My Sister's Keeper
by AngelicTrinity
Summary: Supernatural AU. Edith Liddell promised her eldest sister that she would look after their other sister Alice once she was gone. Unfortunately upholding it would be harder than she thought as Alice refuses to face the reality that their eldest sister is dead and Edith's duties as a Hunter keep her busy. Then Alice is kidnapped by Edith's enemies and caught in the crossfire.
1. Chapter One

**Wow, this was a long chapter to post but I'm happy to have finally have it written up. This was originally going to be a one-shot, but I'll probably have to make it a three-shot now. Hopefully the other two chapters are not going to be as long as this one. This one got way out of hand. **

**Warning: This is written through mostly Edith's view. For all those Alice fans out there, Edith is not going to be speaking fondly or acting kindly towards her second eldest sister due to numerous reasons that you can pierce together in this chapter as well as the next two. So for those reading this... you can't say I didn't warn you.**

**By the way, the scenes written in italics are flashbacks of Edith's past. Scenes between her and Alice, Lorina and the aftermath of Lorina's death.**

**And this is a Supernatural AU. So there is quite a diverge between this series and the canon series.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Kuni no Alice series and anything to do with it. I do, however, own the plot of this story and the interpretation of Edith in this fic and the upcoming ones after this.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

Edith Liddell was the kind of girl who faced things head on.

She did not beat around the bush, pussyfoot around the issue or ignore the problem and hoped that it went away or that someone else solved it for her. Instead she stared damned problem straight in the face and made it either submit to her or find a solution to the issue herself. She was not a damsel in distress; she did not need a prince on a white horse to rescue her and swoop her into his arms, riding them off into the sunset towards the kingdom of Happily Ever After.

That was probably why she was always hated by her female peers who preferred the underhanded tactics of gossip and passive-aggressive attitudes. Edith was the straightforward type and was always upfront about everything. And why she never got along with Alice, her second eldest sister.

Edith always ran towards her problems headlong with the intent of getting the matter over and done with; Alice tended to drown herself in denial and run away from things she did not want to see _or_ hear.

_"You ran away when Mother died!" Alice screamed at Edith as the youngest glared back at the elder sister. "You weren't here when Lorina took on the job of looking after the household in mother's place!"_

_The sound of skin making contact with skin sounded through out the cemetery as Edith drew back her arm and slapped Alice right across the face. The middle Liddell sister's eyes widened in shock and disbelief as her hand reached up to touch the hot skin of her cheek where Edith had struck her._

_Edith's shocked and disbelieving expression practically mirrored Alice's as she lowered her arm. _

_She and Alice were far from close and Lorina's death had driven them even further away from each other, but she never intended to hit her. It was in the heat of the moment and Edith could feel the regret beginning to creep in._

_But she could also hear her own anger rising at Alice's words. How _dare _Alice accuse her of running away when she did not have a choice in the matter? She did not want to leave her family behind to train with the Hunter's Association, but it was something that had been decided by authority out of both Lorina and her father's control, thought the two of them did their best to ensure Edith stayed with them._

_Alice herself had been there to witness the tremendous fight between Lorina and the Hunter Association's representatives who dropped by to take Edith with them. Did she honestly believe that her little sister wanted to be separated from the rest of their family, especially after they had just lost their mother? Edith may have stupidly accused her second oldest sister for not crying at the funeral of their mother, but that was not enough reason to leave behind her two sisters and widowed father._

_"And you pushed Lorina to the side once you had a boyfriend! Lorina who pretty much raised and looked after you after Mother's death." Edith did not bother hiding the bitterness from her voice. _

_She hated to admit it, but she was _jealous _of the closeness between Lorina and Alice. Though it was natural since after Edith left, their father buried himself in his work to forget the pain of losing his wife and his youngest daughter and Lorina and Alice only had each other to depend on. From that day onwards Lorina__ took on the role of both mother and sister towards Alice. _

_Edith could only estimate how much of a burden that was on Lorina who not only had to deal with Alice's feelings but her own as well. _

_"And yet you were so infatuated with your _boyfriend_," Edith spat out the last word like it was a curse, "that you failed to notice our sister get weaker and weaker with each passing day. Failed to notice her become paler and more tired. You only figured out that she was sick after she bloody collapsed in front of you and couldn't hide her condition from you any longer! How did someone who was practically raised by our eldest sister miss so many obvious details?!"_

_Alice inhaled sharply, her eyes glistening with tears. Edith expected Alice to scream right back at her, but instead the college student turned on her heel and ran towards the gate sobbing as tears streamed down her cheeks._

* * *

Shortly before Lorina died, she made Edith promise to look after Alice after she was gone. A promise that Edith was not all that thrilled about, but one that she told her eldest sister she would uphold. She had far too much respect for Lorina to say otherwise.

_"Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't Alice be the one protecting _me_?" Edith snorted in a very unlady like fashion as she folded her arms across her chest. "And by the way, my ears hurt from the two of you yelling at each other so much."_

_Lorina laughed weakly as she adjusted herself on the velvet couch. "Yes. You are right. It _should_ be the other way around as you are the youngest of the three of us and it is up to the older siblings to look after the younger ones." The eldest paused as she coughed. "But in the time you have been gone, you've grown into quite the lady. I can tell that you have gone through so much. So much so that I am certain that you can hold your own against whatever the world throws at you."_

_Another pause. _

_"And I'm sorry it is so loud. I... this was not I wanted you to see when you finally allowed to come back to us."_

_Lorina's voice was sad; though Edith not say anything about the time she spent away from them, she should have known that Lorina would pick up on the fact that she was not the same bratty child who left the household the first time. She had seen and experienced far too much to ever go back to being that spoiled and sheltered child._

_Edith felt the blood rushing into her cheeks and looked away. Was that how Lorina really saw her?_

_"Unfortunately Alice is not like that. She can handle herself, but not in the same way that you can." Lorina sighed softly. "I did not realize it until recently, but I may have protected her too much after mother died. She is independent on her own right, but..." __Lorina trailed off._

_"But...?" Edith pressed. _

_"Alice is unhappy." Lorina closed her eyes. "Or rather, I am a large part of why she is unhappy."_

_Edith stared. What on Earth was Lorina talking about?_

_"I can not believe it took me so long to notice." Her eldest sister seemed to be in her own world now._

_"What are you talking about?" Edith decided to get straight to the point. "What do you mean you are the reason why Alice is unhappy?"  
_

_Alice LOVED Lorina. Maybe... a little too much. The middle child of the Liddell sisters was constantly going on and on about how Lorina was perfect. How she embodied the trope of being the perfect lady and how Alice aspired to be like the eldest. Edith had to agree that Liddell was very lady like and had the mannerisms and talents of society's vision of what a lady was, but going so far as to call Lorina perfect? _

_Wasn't that a little too much?_

_If there was one thing that Edith had learned from her teacher, no person in the world was perfect. You could scour the planet for centuries constantly looking for the 'perfect' person and you would never them. So anyone who claimed to be a perfect person was automatically lying. Perfection tended to be in the eye of the beholder and even then there would be other people disagreeing on an individual's view of perfection.  
_

_Edith loved Lorina. She loved her lady like mannerisms, her motherly like attitude towards Alice and Edith and just everything about Lorina in general. The eldest Liddell sister was far from being a fighter, but she was strong in her own right. She was the one who kept things together after their mother's death at the hands of an illness that was genetic within their family. _

_The same disease that was robbing Lorina of her life right now. _

_"What are you talking about? Alice looks up to you." Edith rolled her eyes, recalling all the times she was forced to listen to Alice comparing her negative traits to positive ones that belonged to Lorina. "Right to the point where she is trying to become a miniature version of you."_

_Because as much as Edith cared for Lorina, she did not want to try and become her. Something that Edith observed in Alice's choice of clothes that did not suit her at all and how she adhered to their sister's wishes all the time._

_"Yes. And you remember the incident with her tutor?"_

_Who also happened to be Alice's boyfriend... or rather ex-boyfriend now._

_Edith rolled her eyes. "How could I NOT? You only spent the next two weeks after their breakup comforting Alice like you two hadn't really spoken to each other for over a year." The youngest Liddell sibling would have added that Alice was being a complete drama queen reminiscent of those overblown teenage dramas on the CTV channel but the disapproving look on Lorina's face had Edith keeping that little jab to herself._

_Though if Edith ever decided to make a script on Alice's life in general she was certain that she would make a lot of money off of it. Because what happened regarding Alice and her ex-boyfriend was something that viewers would eat right up and would fit in with the over dramatic soap operas that teenagers seemed obsessed over these days._

_Apparently the reason that Alice and her former tutor broke up was because the latter had feelings for _Lorina. _The man who was dating Alice was actually in love with her _older sister_. _

_While it was true that the two of them were distant as sisters and blood relations, even Edith felt bad for Alice then. She had never fallen in love and had no aspirations to, but to discover that your boyfriend could not truly reciprocate your feelings because he had only eyes for your older sister?_

_Bloody hell._

_And to make things even worse, not to soon after he told Alice that they could not be together any more, he went up to Lorina to confess his feelings for her despite the fact that she was already dating a writer and was close to being engaged to him._

_Lorina turned down his confession gently. She had been far from happy to hear Alice's ex-boyfriend confess to her and even less pleased that his feelings for her were the reason why the two of them broke up in the first place, but she was polite about it all the same._

_But while Lorina did not return the man's feelings, the damage had already been done. Lorina tried to go back to the way they were before Alice got a boyfriend, but Alice was still hurting over the fact that her ex-boyfriend had feelings for Lorina. She did not try to push back her eldest sister's attempts to close the distance that developed between them, but that fact acted as a barrier between the two of them._

* * *

That particular conversation between Edith and Lorina was held shortly before Alice discovered that the latter was very ill and dying. And a month after she announced that she had plans on moving out of the Liddell household to live on her own.

Edith surprisingly had no problem with that. Perhaps it would be a nice change of pace for Alice considering that all she did after the incident was lock herself in her room and mope. Plus it was a very strong step towards independence that, in Edith's opinion, Alice really needed.

But Lorina's reaction to the news, however, surprised everyone in the household. Everyone except their father who merely raised his eyebrows and then buried himself in his work again thinking that the sisters would just solve whatever problems went on between them.

Lorina was strongly against the idea of Alice moving out. Later on, with guilt, Edith realized that Lorina's reaction to Alice living on her own was probably Edith's fault. Or rather Edith being taken away from the family so soon after they buried their mother- losing two members of the family in a short span of time.

The eldest Liddell was vehement about Alice staying with them. In her opinion families should stick together.

But for once in her life Alice did not do what Lorina wanted her to do. She was just as strongly for the idea of moving out and living on her own; away from the household and away from the painful memories that reminded her of her ex-boyfriend. And having spent a lot of time on their estate with him, the house that was once home and full of wonderful memories became a prison.

Though her second oldest sister never said it out loud, Edith suspected that Alice wanted to get away from Lorina herself. Lorina who had unintentionally been the reason for the break-up in the first place.

The two of them clashed with a fury that Edith didn't think either of them possessed. For weeks they were constantly fighting and Edith had to tell the servants forced to put up with the noise to take a week off so that they could be out of the line of fire. Both Lorina and Alice fought with raised voices and many arguments they had often ended with doors being slammed courtesy of the latter.

Just when Edith thought she was going to go insane from it all, Lorina collapsed as her illness took a turn for the worse effectively putting an end to the conflict between them.

And two weeks later Lorina passed away.

_"Ashes to ashes... dust to dust..."_

_Edith had long ago tuned out the pastor's words as she watched Lorina's casket being lowered into the ground. Her oldest sister's funeral was far from the first funeral she ever intended and she was too much of a realist to think that it would be her last. Despite the fact that Edith had known this day was coming, her chest still ached at the sight of of the casket._

_The wet and dreary weather was the perfect day for burying Lorina, even if it meant that she had to stand out in the soaking rain carrying an umbrella to watch her oldest sister be laid to rest._

_The youngest Liddell could hear sniffles and sobs from the female attendants of Lorina's funeral while the men just stood there and solemnly watched. She glanced over at Alice, unsurprisingly find those baby-blue orbs dry; just like when their beloved mother had died. But the harder that Edith stared at her older sister, the more she realized something was not right._

_Alice's eyes were dull and empty. To be more specific, even though Alice was watching Lorina her eyes weren't really staring at the casket. She was physically there, but her mind was a million miles away. Somewhere far away from the cemetery._

_Edith had been young when she accused Alice for not crying at their mother's funeral. Initially thought that Alice was cold-hearted for not crying. But Edith had been exposed to too much horror and devastation to make the same accusation. _

_And besides, Edith wasn't crying either. Such an accusation was calling the kettle black._

_Having observed Alice long enough, Edith then directed her gaze towards... Alice's ex-boyfriend and the man who had unrequited feelings for Lorina. Like Alice, his eyes were dull, empty, and distant. He was aware that the woman he loved was being laid to rest, but Edith had the feeling that he was convincing himself that it was all just a horrible nightmare and that once he woke up Lorina would be alive and well._

_Edith wondered if Alice and her ex-boyfriend realized that they were very similar. They both loved Lorina to a scary extent, they obsessed over Lorina's feminine charms and as of the moment they both refused to acknowledge that the eldest Liddell was dead and never coming back._

_With an eerie epiphany Edith realized that Lorina had been the center of the universe for a lot of people, including her. Now with her gone that universe was beginning to collapse and she was witnessing the fall out._

* * *

Edith did not have to wait long for the storm to hit.

The enormous estate that had once bustled with life was now cold, empty and silent. Just like the people who were still living in the house that now seemed far to big. The Liddell patriarch continued to bury himself in his work. Though this time he did so in such a fervour that his worried and concerned colleagues sent him home several times just to make him take a break. Not that it did any good; he just picked up where he left off at home in his own personal office that no one was allowed to disturb.

Edith spent as much time as she could outside of the house. The heavy and sad atmosphere grated on her nerves and any chance to be away from the servants who kept giving her pitying looks was one she took right away.

Alice locked herself up in her room and refused to come out last Edith checked. The second oldest sister had been closest to Lorina and probably needed some alone time to deal with the reality. That is, if she ever decided to deal with reality.

It wasn't until one of the servants purposely sought her out that Edith realized something was very, very wrong.

_"She-" The maid's hands were shaking. "She just sits there every Sunday afternoon at a specific time. Claiming to be drinking tea and cookies with- with Miss Lorina and laughing and talking to someone- someone who isn't there. Wh-White said not to say anything about it-"_

_The significance of Sunday Afternoons was not lost on her. That was when Lorina and Alice spent time lounging under the trees of their huge estate garden together as the two of them read books together with a tray of beverages and snacks sitting near by._

_Edith did not need the maid to tell her what Alice was doing. Because Edith was witnessing it first hand herself._

_Though Edith could not hear Alice's words from where she was standing and observing, she could see her sister's lips moving as she talked brightly to the empty space next to her. __Peter White, Alice's personal servant, stood near by solemnly watching the scene. __Without thinking about it Edith made her way towards him to demand an explanation even though she already had a good idea of what was going on._

_"Edith!" The girl in question turned her head towards Alice's direction to see her smiling and holding up a cup. "Come join us! The cookies that Lorina baked are delicious!"_

* * *

Edith had tried to argue with her father about getting Alice hospitalized. While hospitalization _or _medication was not her idea of a cure, leaving Alice to her own devices as it was was even worse.

But her father put his foot down on the issue. Alice was not going to a hospital nor was she going to get checked out by some quack doctor who claimed he or she specialized in the inner workings of the human mind. The Liddell patriarch had a disdain for psychiatrists and their cousins and refused to associate with anyone in the profession.

However, Edith could be stubborn too. She refused to let Alice's mental health deteriorate any further and she was not going to let Alice continue to live in a dream, even if said dream kept her happy.

Reality was cruel and merciless to everyone. There was nothing wrong with putting it off for a bit; but there was a huge difference between putting off the harshness of reality and full on escapism and denial.

The arguments between father and youngest daughter escalated into explosive levels as the two of them began attacking each other verbally. If their father hadn't decided to bury himself in his work as a way to avoid dealing with the death of his wife, things would not have turned out as they were. Edith also snapped at him that Alice had inherited his horrible escapism habits.

Needless to say things got worse from there.

Though not in the way that she nor anyone else expected.

_Coming home to discover your door being ripped off of its hinges was never a good thing. In fact, it was one of the most horrifying things to come across as you never knew what was waiting for you inside: a monster waiting to tear you or your loved ones apart, piece by piece._

_Pushing all her apprehension aside, Edith ran inside the estate to see what gruesome sights awaited her after she equipped her gun. _

_It had only been a few hours since she left the house after a particular bad argument regarding Alice's mental state again and whether she should be hospitalized or not. She planned on coming back once she calmed down, only to come across her house being broken into with the door lying in the bushes snapped in half. The snapped door told Edith that this was not the act of a human, but someone in the supernatural category._

_The bodies of the servants who worked in the Liddell estate were scattered all over the place. Whoever had killed them literally ripped them limb by limb suggesting that the perpetrator of this massacre had inhuman strength. Edith headed in the direction of her father's personal office first to see... if he was still okay. _

_One look inside dashed that hope away. He had met the same fate as the servants; perhaps even worse as she could only identify the smashed up corpse through the clothing of the victim. Her father's favorite maroon suit. Fighting down the nausea that threatened to rise out of her throat, Edith made her way towards Alice's room. Similar to what happened to the front door, the entrance to her older sister's room had been ripped from its hinges. She peered through the edge of the doorway, expecting to see Alice in a similar state to her father._

_But the room was empty. _

_Edith stayed outside in the hall for a few minutes before cautiously walking inside. It was still empty. The girl listened in, trying to identify any sounds that were out of place in the silence of the huge estate._

_There was only silence._

_Tense and alert, Edith's blue-green eyes roamed around the room. They landed on Alice's bed and on top of the rumpled sheets she spotted a single white slip of paper. Moving forward towards the bed she picked up the sheet of paper, reading what was written on it. _

_If Edith ever wanted to see her sister again then she was to head over to the harbour tonight. _

_Alone. _

* * *

**Hopefully you all enjoy reading this. It was pretty fun to write, but I kinda struggled with the story at the end a bit. Hopefully I can get the next two chapters out as soon as possible!**

**This would be the introduction to a Supernatural AU series I've been plotting out with Sleeping Moon for a while.**


	2. Chapter Two

**Ugh, it was quite the struggle to get the motivation to write this chapter but I did it! Somehow, I managed to finish this story in two days! And the chapter after this will be the last one. Stick around to read it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Diamond/Joker/Clover/Heart no kuni no Alice series. I also do not own any of the characters, including Edith Liddell who happens to be the star of this story. **

* * *

**Chapter Two**

They were clichés straight out of a novel.

The protagonist comes home to find her door broken down, the inside of her house dark and ransacked and if the director and producers of the movie were really hoping to scare their audience the lifeless bodies of their loved ones would also be found inside... surrounded by a pool of blood.

Then there was also the over-used plot of discovering the house completely ransacked where the protagonist's loved one is no where to be found. In this case, there was usually a note left behind explaining that if the protagonist ever wants to see the person again then they should follow the instructions on the note. The instructions of the ominous note usually stated that the protagonist should meet at location X if they ever wanted person Y back alive. Said location was often an abandoned warehouse or a place that was far away from civilization. Far enough so that no one could hear you scream as the villain attempted to kill you.

Edith _hated _clichés. _Especially _if she had to reenact one.

Which was exactly what she was doing by heading over to the harbour at the specified time dictated by the piece of paper held in her left hand that she badly wanted to shred into pieces.

Alice and Edith were never close and their already strained relationship only worsened with Lorina's death and the former's inability to acknowledge that the Liddells had lost another beloved member of their family. _But _Lorina had made her promise to look after Alice once she was dead and Edith did not plan on breaking it even though her eldest sister was no longer around to witness whether she would keep her word or not.

_'I'm only rescuing Alice because Lorina made me promise to watch over her on her death-bed,' _Edith thought. _'I am a horrible, horrible sister.'_

Edith knew that it was only her word to Lorina that had her risking her life to rescue Alice. That, and the fact that they were related by blood and shared the same parents. Those two facts being the main driving reasons as to why she was walking into an obvious trap made her feel uncomfortable and a little guilty.

Still she didn't even know if her sister was still alive. The states of the servants of the household and her father (especially her the old man) did not have her optimistic about her sister still being alive. Alice could have easily been kidnapped and killed in another location; and if that was the case then all Edith would find was a corpse that used to a living person.

But there was also a small sliver of hope that Alice was still among the living. And the duty bound part of Edith could not over look that.

There was no doubt that somewhere up there Lorina was furious at Edith for letting Alice get kidnapped in the first place. And if Alice were to die, she knew that Lorina would never forgive her.

Everyone, Edith included, knew that she and Alice got along like a house on fire. But did she dislike her older sister so much that she could barely gather motivation to rescue her from a disgruntled past enemy? That it was a _promise_ and a fear of her deceased sister's wrath that was making her walk right into a trap and not the fact that Alice was in trouble?

Edith's stomach churned and did flip flops as the realization set in.

_Apparently so. _

* * *

Ten minutes later Edith arrived at the harbour just as she was instructed. It took another five minutes to find the specified warehouse and finally two minutes to break inside. Unsurprisingly there was no one around waiting for her with their arms crossed and an evil smirk on their face. Unless you counted the warehouses and the empty crates that were surrounding her as company.

More importantly there was no Alice either.

As soon as she had set foot in the assigned meeting place, the Hunter had drawn her weapons: the twin guns Apollo and Artemis. Only an idiot or a really green Hunter with an incompetent teacher would explore a possibly hostile area unarmed. Or anywhere else for that matter. A quick (and risky) glance at her wrist watch told her that she arrived at the rendezvous point five minutes early. So that essentially meant five minutes of doing nothing but keeping an eye out on her surroundings and debating on whether whoever called her out to the harbour was actually going to meet up with her or it was a trap she was going to have to fight her way out of.

Edith preferred the latter. She was more of a fighter than a silver-tongued smooth talker; there was a reason why she not allowed to negotiate with the enemy or handle anything of the political nature.

A sound from her left had Edith immediately turning in the direction and tightening the hold she had on her twin guns. When she saw who was hiding in the shadows of a steel storage container, the Hunter growled.

"You!"

Smiling sweetly at her was Estelle Grants, a vampire and an infamous member of one of the many anti-human group factions out there. With her light brown hair, emerald green eyes and her small slender body figure, Estelle was the type of person who looked as if she could do no wrong and needed to be protected from the evils of the world.

Anyone who had encountered and went up against Estelle in any way and escaped the first time knew better. She was a bitch in sheep's clothing and her soft and 'innocent' looks fooled everyone most people into taking her at face value. With the exception of those who knew what kind of monster was lurking underneath those attractive looks.

Edith would bet her father's entire fortune that Estelle was the one who personally broke into her estate and slaughtered the servants and her father. That was the only conclusion she could come up with since the vampiress' clothing was drenched in dark red stains.

"Just on time." Estelle said lightly as if Edith was not aiming her guns at her. "Then again having your sister and her servant makes a great incentive to lure you here."

Edith raised an eyebrow but kept her weapons trained on the vampire. "Servant? You only mentioned having my sister under your _custody._"

"Yes, well, this one was just too cute to pass up. I figured that I would just take him from you and your sister and put him to better use. You don't mind, do you?"

"Just get to the point. You took my sister. Why?"

Short, sweet and straight to the point. Just as Edith liked it. And it left very little room for the other person to set off a tangent that distracted her from her goal. In this case Edith's point would be shooting Estelle multiple times at point blank range and watching her writhe in pain on the floor.

"You're no fun." Estelle's voice continued to be patronizing. "But if you must know... I want to propose a trade."

"A trade." Edith said flatly. She knew _exactly _where this was going.

"Yes!" The vampire chirped. "I want to exchange your sister and her servant for the two vampires you captured two months ago. You see, I do not like it when people take my things. As well as break them."

By 'things' the vampiress must have meant her captured henchmen. Like the atypical vampire who was used to being on top or always getting their way, the people around them were not seen as living beings with autonomy but possessions. Vampires were very, very materialistic creatures who obsessed over two things after all: wealth and status.

Edith knew who Estelle was talking about. As the latter said she had been responsible for the capture of two vampires who were wrecking havoc up in Canada. There were originally three of them and they had racked up quite a body count before Edith was able to capture two of the vampires. The third one she simply killed off because there were more dead people piling up and because she figured that two vampires were enough for interrogation.

"I am sorry to say that is _not_ going to be possible." Edith said sarcastically. "Your pawns are simply too valuable to let go; and I highly doubt the sister of a Hunter is worth the trade off that you are requesting. They are not going to agree to the terms even if you are holding a hostage."

Estelle smirked. "I'm sure that a smart Hunter like you can think of something."

The Hunter snorted. "I am sure I can. But that's assuming that you think I'm one of those stupid and silly protagonists who would simply drop everything and act like an idiot when someone she knows is taken captive. Sorry to break it to you, but I am _not_ like any of those types." Edith smiled, but it was far from a friendly one. It was the kind that she used on her targets who were about to get their comeuppance via a bullet right through their heart.

Much to her satisfaction, Edith's words wiped the smirk right off of Estelle's smug face.

"Very well then. I guess your sister simply has no use for me then." She scowled, but then her face twisted into another sneer, more uglier than it's predecessor from a few minutes ago. "I suppose that I should simply dispose of her since she has lost her usefulness, but I have a better idea."

The petite brunette snapped her fingers and three figures appeared from the shadows. Or to be more accurate, two figures holding on to a third that was bound by a brown burlap sack pulled over them. Another snap from Estelle had the figures removing the sack that was concealing the third individual and shoving them none too gently towards the middle of the room.

Edith's eyes widened before she immediately put on a cold facade as the woman looked up dazedly at her; the one she usually reserved for having to do a job despite her inner turmoil.

Because sprawled on the ground was a young woman in her early to middle twenties. Like Edith she had dirty blonde hair, though it was much longer as it went down to her waist.

However it was the woman's eyes that grabbed Edith's attention.

_"Her eyes are green-blue like mine," _The Hunter noted numbly. _"At least they're supposed to be."_

The three Liddell sisters all shared the same physical traits; green-blue eyes and dirty blonde hair that was easily mistaken for brown. And while they did not look exactly like each other, there was too strong of a resemblance between them them to be mistaken for anything else other than sisters.

But Alice Liddell was staring at her with dark crimson orbs.

The signature colour of a newborn vampire who was very, very hungry.

* * *

**Done! It took a lot to crank out this chapter and I am not entirely satisfied with it, but I couldn't bring myself to write any more. Not when I was already struggling with the motivation. **

**But anyways... please kindly review this story. I want to know what you think! And it would be nice to hear what the fans have to say.**


	3. Chapter Three

**And on to the final chapter! I am finally finished this chapter. Finally! I won't say much, but there is definitely a lot of drama in this chapter. And Edith loathing her family. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Diamond/Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice. I do, however, own this plot. **

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Edith hated Alice for a number of reasons.

In her opinion the second Liddell sister cared way too much about what people thought about her and was never satisfied with what she even _had_. She fussed over the most minor of things and had a very unhealthy obsession with how 'perfect' and feminine Lorina was when compared to her.

Alice was also sheltered, never realizing just how protected she was from the evils of the world and took everything in her life for granted. Having a large estate that provided a large roof over her head spoke of how much wealth her family had and a kind and caring sister who also acted as a mother figure in place for their real mother after she had died from an illness; Alice never appreciated what she was born into.

That was probably why Edith's heavy dislike for her second sister became full-blown hatred for her when she started living under the illusion that Lorina was still alive and preparing snacks and tea for them on Sunday Afternoons. Rather than face the reality that Lorina was gone for good, Alice decided to indulge in dreams and escapism to escape from pain.

Edith had thought Alice was stronger than that. But apparently not. And it didn't help that the servants, Peter White _especially_, allowed her to continue like that.

The many times that Edith had tried to snap Alice out of the delusion that Lorina was still alive ended up with the latter throwing a temper tantrum and accusing Edith of being a horrible liar. And that wasn't even the icing on the bloody cake; the old man scolded _her _for trying to bring her sister back into the realm of reality. Like she was the one who was in the wrong for being concerned with the fact that her sister was in denial.

Then again correcting Alice's delusional state meant that the old man would have to reflect on his own poor coping skills. Because honestly, Edith and probably anyone else who knew would not be impressed with how the Liddell patriarch threw himself into his work and left most of the household responsibilities to his eldest daughter after the death of his wife.

Best father _ever._

And Alice probably got her less than impressive coping skills from _him. _

So yes, Edith was not really a fan of her own family. Probably never would be with the exception of her gentle mother and Lorina. It was pretty damned hard to like your own family when everyone left decided to deny the fucking elephants right in front of them.

While Edith and Alice were never going to be close in this life time, the thought of one sister having to kill another never crossed her mind. Yes, she thought her sister was weak when it came to dealing with the hardships of reality but she never wanted Alice dead nor did she think that she deserved to die either.

Now Edith might not have a choice but to kill her as dictated by The Rules. She didn't want to, but one of the top rules within the Hunter's legislation was to never let anything personal get in the way of doing your job.

Edith threw herself to the left just in time to avoid the swipe from Alice that would have literally taken her head off. She immediately got back up on to her feet and fired a shot aimed at Alice's leg to stop the girl from moving again. When the bullet just grazed her sister's thigh, hardly hindering the woman's movement at all, the Hunter cursed and ducked to avoid another attempt to rip her head from her shoulders.

After that bitch Estelle and her goons had dumped her sister on the ground, the vampiress immediately told her goons to retreat leaving Edith alone with the recently turned Alice.

Most people would have run up to Alice and checked if she was okay. Edith, on the other hand, stayed where she was never removing her eyes from her sister as she quickly made sure that her gun was completely loaded with bullets. The bright red glow of her sister's eyes unnerved her, but Edith was a professional Hunter and thus could not let what would scare the living day lights out of most civilians affect her.

Vampires were a complete pain in the arse to deal with for a number of reasons.

Political wise they tended to be very difficult to negotiate with. Though thankfully not all of them were like that other wise the vampire race would have probably gone long extinct if just because everyone else would be fed up dealing with them and their stuck up and high-class ways. Prominent examples of tolerable vampires being the Baron Julius Monrey, Marchioness Vivaldi Dupre and the daughter of an English Duke, Elizabeth Walker.

When someone had to hunt them down? The easiest vampires to deal with were the ones who were confident in themselves and overestimated their abilities. The reasoning behind that kind of vampire was because of the strength and speed and the general superhuman status that came with being a member of that particular race.

They got it into their heads that their were invincible and as such approached a battle with an overblown ego that typically resulted in their deaths. Unfortunately this mindset was characteristic of former human vampires who were high on their new powers and THEY were often the ones at the bottom of the chain both lineage and strength wise.

It was the vampires within the nobility setting one had to look out for. Stuck-up they might have been, but they were typically more clever and devious when it came to plotting and they usually picked battles they were sure to win. Not to mention that born vampires were more powerful compared to their former human counterparts.

But the _worst _kind of vampire to deal with was the newborns. It didn't matter what age someone was prior to being turned whether they were a ten year old or an adult hitting their thirties; if there was no one to keep an eye out on the fledgling they were more likely than not to go on a rampage that often resulted in a lot of dead civilians. Recently turned vampires were like babies or to be more accurate, toddlers who merely went after what they wanted consequences be damned. It wasn't as if the individual in question lost all of their prior knowledge after they were turned -they were just so overwhelmed by their new vampire instincts and senses that the inner Beast tended to take over while they were still adjusting to what they became.

The Beast. The darkside of that craved blood and violence and tried to take over the individual at every opportunity with the intention of turning them into a mindless being who operated purely on instinct. Every person had the Beast within them, but in vampires it's dark alluring voice was amplified ten fold.

Alice was currently no different from any other fledgling who was being over taken by their new instincts. Edith had seen Alice nearly half a day ago and other than the fact that she was out in the garden talking to 'Lorina' again, the woman seemed to be fine. So the most her sister had been a vampire was a few hours, which was hardly enough time for her to control the Beast within her at all.

But something also seemed off about her. Alice was hardly the first newborn vampire that Edith ever confronted, but there was something unusual in the way she was staring at her. What Edith saw in Alice's eyes was not hunger or bloodlust, but anger and pure hatred. Which caught Edith off guard; despite their tumultuous relationship, she had never seen her second oldest sister stare at her with _hate._

Alice then lunged at her. Far too close for comfort and with snap expertise, Edith moved her gun higher and fired.

The youngest Liddell winced as Alice screamed with pain when the bullets slammed into her. The woman fell to the floor writhing, blood pooling around her and painting the ground red. The shots were meant to incapacitate her and not kill. So yes, even though Alice was on the ground and bleeding at an alarming rate she wasn't going to die. Because vampires had high endurance and could survive a truck ramming into them at high speed, Edith had to use the kind of force that would have other wise killed any other ordinary mundane.

Putting a bullet in her sister's head or heart, the most vital organs for a vampire, would be a different story.

Holding her guns in each hand tightly, Edith slowly made her way to her sister, carefully and closely watching for signs that the woman would get back right up and attack her again.

"I'm sorry Alice." Edith said as she stopped a few feet away from the woman's force. "But you didn't leave me much of a choice."

Alice's lips moved but Edith wasn't able to hear what she said. A few seconds later Alice choked out a reply that made Edith freeze.

"...liar."

"...how am I liar?" Edith's eyes narrowed at her sister, the woman who was constantly lying to _herself_.

The youngest Liddell always told the truth to someone's face, even if it had that individual swearing back right at her (and then Edith would just throw back their own words with much more vigour). It was one of her favorite traits about herself since she didn't think highly about sugar coating anything. The truth was the truth and it was pretty much the same thing no matter how you said it, so why bother trying to soften the blow.

This particular tendency tended to exasperate the people around her. Something about how it would not kill her to be tactful once in a while and to stop offending people so much that they wanted to rip her limbs off.

"You always hated me." Alice glared at Edith. "You're not sorry at all. And you've been lying to me for years _Hunter._"

Edith didn't say anything. Alice wasn't entirely wrong at that statement, but was she really such a monster in Alice's eyes? That Edith would revel in her death and that she enjoyed shooting Alice in self-defense? And Alice had been the only one left out of the loop regarding why Edith was really taken from the family in the first place.

Edith made a foot note to brutally murder Estelle for the blatant violation of _The Rules. _To her own _sister _nonetheless.

"Just get it over with, _Edith_." Alice spat. "At least I don't have to live in this gray world any more without Lorina. A world where my only other family left is a sister who is a murderer and a liar."

The Hunter blinked. Her sister had just said _'without Lorina' _meaning that she knew that their eldest sister was dead. But...

"Unfortunately for you," Edith spoke back to Alice in the same tone. "Lorina made me promise to protect your ungrateful arse. It was the last thing she asked of me while you were off feeling guilty in your room."

Alice laughed. But it was a sardonic and bitter laugh as her newly red eyes pierced through Edith's own.

"Protect me?" She laughed as if Edith had told a hilarious joke. "Well, you have done a _fantastic job_ of _that_."

"..." Edith was a tactless and opinionated person, but she at least had the decency of being able to accept when she was wrong with dignity. Which was a lot more than she could say for other people. And as loathed as she was to admit it, Alice was correct in that the Hunter had completely failed to uphold her promise.

Alice was not dead... but was it any better to have your world fundamentally change over night? To suddenly become a creature that you originally thought was completely fictional?

In her own words Alice was a realist. A realist who enjoyed reading fantasy novels and those ridiculous YA Paranormal/Supernatural novels based off of Twilight (ugh. _Twilight_), but she also didn't believe in the creatures that existed in fiction such as vampires or werewolves or demons.

Creatures that just so happened to make up the world Edith lived in on a constant basis.

"I can see for myself that I fantastically failed since vampirism is unfortunately a permanent process." Edith said dully. "Now I just have to figure out what to do with you. Believe it or not, I may be a murderer but I am not the type to 'shoot first, ask questions later'."

That was actually Brie's alley.

Because Hunters _were _murderers when it came down to it. They were the enforcers between humans and the supernaturals who kept the peace... through negotiation or force if they needed to. Being an enforcer was not an easy nor bloodless job. Dirtying your hands with the taken lives of supernaturals and humans took a certain degree of courage as a decent being. It was nothing to be proud of, but being considered as nothing but an indiscriminate killer still pissed the girl off.

"Just kill me already." Alice said bitterly. "I've become a monster anyways."

"Life does not work like that. Stop taking the easy way out and just deal with the bloody hand that you were dealt with." Edith glared at her. She knew a few decent supernaturals and took great insult to any of them being referred to as monsters based off of just being different or ignorance. "That is always the issue with you, Alice. You always run away from your problems, you never confront them. Tell me, were you always the type to run away from everything? To escape into your dreams to a time that is long gone and will never return to you? To drown yourself in the past?"

"...what is wrong with that?"

Edith paused as she looked down at her sister. Alice was no longer glaring hatefully at her. Instead her eyes were dull. Defeated. As if she had simply given up.

"What is wrong with running away?" She said. "I am not like _you, _Edith. I cannot just face my problems head on and bend the situation to my will. Is it a crime to be weak? Is it so wrong to want to go back to my happiest times and to be sick of being miserable because everything in my life is horrid? You are always constantly judging me about how I deal with life. Not everyone is as strong as you."

The youngest Liddell's mouth went slack and dry as her sister's words brought up to the fore front of her mind a memory.

Her mentor, Bianca, had said something along those lines a long time ago. That Edith and her other student Brie had a certain standard of what strength was. And that they failed to recognize that not everyone could reach their standards. But that was okay since no two people were the same.

What was not okay, however, was the way they looked down at people who did not measure up to their standards.

"Darren," That was the name of Alice's ex-tutor. "Loved Lorina as well. So much that I saw him declare that he would never love another woman for as long as he lives. It... reminded me of father. The love between him and mother is pure. The love between Darren and Lorina is also pure. I envy the two of them for having men who cannot continue without them."

Alice laughed bitterly.

"Unlike me who has nothing about her to LOVE!"

Edith was unable to entirely dodge the sudden attack as Alice lashed out at her. Had she stayed in place for a second longer, her sister would have ripped out her throat. Even so, the side of her neck still felt some of the force of sister's nails.

Fantastic. Alice had regained her inner fire and was turning those new found flames on Edith again.

But before Alice could lunge and Edith could shoot, something shimmered in between them. Before either of them could blink or comprehend the sudden ripple in space, Alice was suddenly flying backwards. Edith gaped as her sister hit the wall of the warehouse with a loud crack before sliding down the wall on to the ground.

The gasps of pain from the vampire fledging indicated that while Alice was not going to be getting up soon, she was still alive.

Edith then turned her attention towards the shimmering figure that was now fully materialized. From behind the figure looked like a male police officer since they were wearing a black uniform complete with a cap. The only thing that could be seen was his choppy red hair that trailed off past his neck.

And then he turned and the Hunter found herself dealing with a pissed off pirate/officer/thug. The pirate and thug part was because he was wearing an eye patch.

"Were you even thinking of summoning me some time this century you fucking idiot?!" He snapped. "You. Forgot. About. Me. AGAIN!"

One of Edith's eyes twitched. "Charmed to see you too, Black."

Black and his other identical half White were demon summons who her mentor passed onto her and Brie. Brie was currently contracted to White while Edith had the misfortune of being contracted to the much more foul mouthed muscle head who felt the need to cuss out everything that irked him. Their names actually weren't 'Black' and 'White', but those were the names that Bianca came up with for them since demons telling their summoners their real names was tantamount to allowing themselves to be enslaved.

White did not mind his nickname. Black, however, had a lot to say not that it did him much good.

"What do you think would have happened if I hadn't materialized then?!"

"I suppose I would be dead?" Edith stated with a straight face.

"Damn straight you would!" Black snapped. "How the fuck you and that other bitch are still alive is a mystery beyond me! You both failed the 'self-preservation' part of your lessons!"

Edith rolled her eyes before focusing on the issue on hand. "How about you yell at me later? I promise to listen to you rant, but for now I have to deal with the clusterfuck of a mess right in front of me."

Black looked as if he wanted to yell and swear some more, but instead he let out a frustrated sigh. She had a point. This was not going to be an easy mess to deal with _at all_.

"Fine." He ground out. "This isn't over."

"I didn't say it was." Edith said dryly. "Any idea where to start? Any help you can give me would be nice."

"How about starting with the unconscious vampire behind the crates? I took care of him while you and your sister were having a moment. White hair and red eyes? Does he sound familiar to you?"

"...you mean Peter is here too?"

* * *

**And I'm done!**

**Whoo! **

**Sadly, this is the first time that I've actually finished a multi-chapter story! Three chapters, but still...**

**Anyways, this is the conclusion of the sister arc. I know Alice is not portrayed in a positive view, but this is detailed from Edith's pov. And she doesn't like her sister, because she has ridiculous standards that Alice does not live up to. Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this. Leave a detailed review and tell me what you think!**


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